Affilias And The .Me Generation

Affilias has laid out its own domain with the .me generation

Source - Philadelphia Business Journal - by Peter Key Staff Writer

Some .me that we (DomainBrokers.me) are brokering

HORSHAM — For Afilias Ltd., the past five months have been all about “.me.”
The Irish company, which employs 40 at its administrative offices and network operations center here, is involved in promoting and providing technical support for the “.me” domain, which was launched in May.
Although “.me” is the country domain for Montenegro, just as “.us” is the country domain for the United States, it has attracted international attention because of its potential use in such punning domain names as “date.me” and “love.me.”
Those, in fact, were two of the domain names sold in an auction that began at a domain industry conference in New York on Sept. 23 and continued online afterwards. “Date.me” went for $70,000 and “love.me” fetched $32,500. Prior to the auction, “chatwith.me” sold for $15,035 and picture.me commanded $10,240.”
“It’s not only an amazing domain to actually get into and have a site there, but even if you’re just investing in some names, this is the site to get into,” said Roland LaPlante, Afilias’ chief marketing officer.
Most of the proceeds from “.me” domain name sales go to the government of Montenegro. DoMEn, the company that operates the “.me” domain registry, won the right to do so by agreeing to pay the Montenegro government 70 percent of the proceeds it receives from all “.me” domain name sales.
Afilias gets a cut of the money that doMEn retains from the sales because it is one of three owners of the company. The other two are Scottsdale, Ariz.-based GoDaddy.com Inc., the world’s largest domain name registrar; and ME-net, a Montenegro-based company whose principals are leaders of the country’s information and communications technology sector.
Afilias also benefits from whatever success “.me” enjoys because it is contracted to provide doMEn with the technology services that allow Web browsers the world over to find Web sites with “.me” domain names.
Providing those types of services is Afilias’ main business. The company supports 15 domains, including “.org,” “.info” “.aero” and “.mobi,” with 14 million names among them.
Afilias doesn’t sell domain names directly to the public. Instead, it relies on registrars, such as GoDaddy to do that. The registrars usually also provide their customers with Web hosting and related services.
To sell “.me” domain names, doMEn has agreements with 105 registrars throughout the world.
“We want to be sure that there will be big marketing power that will be able to push ‘.me’ in a very short period of time globally,” said Predrag Lesic, doMEn’s CEO.
Afilias is helping doMEn work with registrars by providing some of them with ads for “.me” that include their name and contact information.
So far, 135,000 “.me” names have been registered. That’s nothing compared to the 70 million registered “.com” names, but Lesic said it makes “.me” the fastest-launching country domain ever.
“.Me” Web sites up and running include “furl.me,” a social bookmarking site; “wmw.me,” which shortens Web addresses to make it easier to link to sites on micro-blogs such as Twitter; and “ggl.me,” which provides Google searches with black screens, ostensibly reducing the consumption of carbon-based fuels in the process.

dotME Background Info

.me

Some .me that we (DotMeBrokers.com) are brokering

Introduced 2007 TLD type Country code top-level domain Status Active Registry domain.me (doMEn) Sponsor Montenegro Government of Montenegro Intended use .me is the ccTLD of Montenegro, serving entities connected with Montenegro Actual use Trying to position itself for global use, and become a personal namespace like .name. Registration restrictions Sunrise for trademark holders, then open registration Documents Policies Dispute policies Sunrise Policy, and UDRP Website domain.me

.me is an Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) that has been assigned to Montenegro.

This follows Montenegro's June 3, 2006 declaration of independence from Serbia and Montenegro, which used the code YU.

The .me registry is operated by doMEn, which won a contract to do so after a bid process conducted by the government of Montenegro.

In addition to declaring .me independent of .yu, a new .rs domain is to be deployed for Serbian use.


Introducing .meICANN resolved that .me be delegated to the Government of Montenegro, with the former .yu domain to be operated temporarily by the .rs domain registry, Serbian National Register of Internet Domain Names, until its eventual abolition on or before 30 September 2009.

On 11 September 2007, delegation of root name servers was approved by IANA, establishing .me. The .me domain became active on 24 September 2007 and a "Public Invitation for selection of the Agent for domain registration under the national Internet domain of Montenegro" was posted on 14 November. doMEn d.o.o. was selected as the new registry operator.

doMEn, d.o.o. is a Montenegro based joint venture (doing business as .ME Registry) whose partners are Afilias Limited, GoDaddy.com, Inc., and ME-net d.o.o.

May 6th, 2008 - .me Registry - General Sunrise began for all eligible Trademark holders anywhere in the world.

On July 16, 2008, registration was made available for all .me domains at various registrars.

.ME registry http://www.domen.me/ .ME registry in Montenegrin http://www.domain.me/ .ME registry in English http://www.nic.me/ Former .ME registry Government of Montenegro http://www.me/ Montenegro general information http://www.gov.me/ Government of Montenegro http://www.szr.gov.me/ Secretariat for Economic Development University of Montenegro http://www.ucg.ac.me/ University of Montenegro main site http://www.cis.ac.me/ Centre for Information Systems http://www.etf.ac.me/ Faculty of Electrical Engineering http://www.ef.ac.me/http://www.ekonomija.ac.me/ Faculty of Economics http://www.pmf.ac.me/ Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics

Domain structure for .meAll domains under .me are reserved for legal entities only.

Second-level registrations are available to parties worldwide. Third-level registrations are available to Montenegrin citizens and companies in the following zones:

.co.me - unlimited registration, but appropriate for corporations .net.me - unlimited registration, but appropriate for providers of Internet services .org.me - unlimited registration, but appropriate for civil organizations and associations .edu.me - Educational institutions, such as primary and high schools .ac.me - Academic and post-secondary organizations such as universities; University of Montenegro has ucg.ac.me as its primary domain .gov.me - State and Government authorities .its.me or .priv.me - unlimited registration, but appropriate for personal use



Montenegro Domain Registry (Montenegrin) (English)

The Upstart Domain Extension DotMe

NEW YORK, Oct 15, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE)


Some .me that we (DotMeBrokers.com) are brokering

The upstart domain extension DotMe ( www.domain.me) has launched with a bang. Intermarketing's Peter Nilson reports, "Due to the success and potential of the ME domain, our company is preparing to use the extension for several of our clients' upcoming marketing campaigns."
The extension crosses language barriers, and according to Nilson, "English is already the lingua franca of the Internet. Furthermore, ME also resonates with citizens who speak one of the Romance languages, for example, Spanish, Portuguese and Italian. But what has really caught our attention," continues Nilson, "is the surprising fact that a large percentage of the existing .ME sites come from the Asian region. We intend to use .ME in marketing strategies for our clients worldwide."
GoDaddy.com, the world's giant in the field of domain name registration, reported that it received over 20,000 different dot .Me registration requests within the first 24 hours. According to Founder and CEO Bob Parsons of GoDaddy.com Corporation, to the best of the company's knowledge, that volume quite handily breaks any previous record of registrations within the first twenty-four hours of launching a new extension.
In the first few minutes of opening of the registration in July, over 5,000 domain names were purchased worldwide as both individuals and businesses alike rushed to secure their preferred .ME extension. The registrants grew exponentially, and within two weeks of opening, more than 100,000 domain names had owners. Since opening up registrations to the public, there are over 1.3 million .ME web sites developed worldwide.
The .ME extension has been achieving high sales at recent auctions and breaking records for registrations. It shows great potential as a branding tool that can change the way marketers and ad execs promote the services and products of their clients.
A pharmaceutical company can promote a new device or drug for persons with conditions like diabetes and asthma, and companies can use print ads or TV commercials to advise potential consumers and patients to go to diabetes.me or asthma.me, to get all the information about the product, and to possibly read testimonials from customers. This could be much easier than trying to type in hard to spell and difficult to pronounce drug names. A photo-sharing site or camera company can promote their site and products with photos.me. A travel or airline company can promote deals and promotions with flights.me, vacations.me or fly.me.
.ME is being promoted as ideal for the growing personalized web of blogs, microsites, journals, forums, communities, and interactive web and mobile 2.0 sites. However, there's much more potential with the .ME extension, as it's a catchy moniker that's easy to remember, fast to type in on a computer or cell phone, and even nouns and city and country names should fit well with the extension.
Property.me could be ideal as a real estate site, or interactive real estate networking site. Hotels.me could work well for travel deals and user reviews and ratings. Teens.me could be a cool teen blogging or social networking site. Location.me could be stellar for getting GPS or mapping info, directions on your mobile phone. London.me could be the go-to-site for London travel deals and info from reviewers and users. Vegas.me could be a great site for getting inside deals on hotels, shows, restaurants and updates for high rollers.
Apple created a series of revolutionary iProducts, including the iPhone, iTunes, iPod, iSight, iMix, among many more. They seem to be moving in a "ME" direction, having purchased ME.COM which is now an Apple trademark; the Company also has launched MOBILE.ME and its new product "MOBILE ME" which users and potential customers can access at ME.com. This could be the charting of a .ME world. Perhaps, with the popularity of the App Store and the daily downloading of thousands of iPhone Apps, the launch of Apps.me could be on the horizon.
Other companies that are getting on the .ME ship include Google, Microsoft, as well as leading social networking, blogging, travel, media, IT, and telecom sites. Expect to see many of these companies rolling out their .ME sites in the near future.
On first glance, the real value of the .ME extension is its potential to reach everybody on a personal level, and that's one of the reasons a .ME name can become so valuable.
In the future, soccer.me, honeymoon.me, Africa.me, mortgage.me, sports.me, and casino.me may become catch phrases or websites that can act as calls to action. Google now acts as both a noun (the name of a company) and verb (to search), so the next time you Google DOTME or .ME domains, don't be surprised if you see lots of hits and a new domain becoming one of the most popular and coolest destinations on the web.
.ME has arrived, and it's a welcome presence. ".ME -- it's about YOU!" .ME is making its journey around the World Wide Web, and persons and companies worldwide are climbing aboard to reach their desired destinations.

Reasons To Love .Me

Well .me is still sustaining it’s buzz / hype whichever way you look at it. Naysayers will claim .me is just a re-run of the .mobi hysteria that swept domaining circles two years ago. Personally I think .me has a lot more in the way of sustainability ~ but only time will tell. Godaddy sure love .me

Some .me that we (DomainBrokers.me) are brokering

Over Results 1,000,000 for me. sites in google already and growing all the time


These are just some of the domains sold on the 1st me auction

Domain Price Bids
toyota.me $90,025 110
insure.me $68,005 278
sync.me $41,005 216
oglasi.me $40,034 82
only.me $33,405 63
aweso.me $24,189 67
skoda.me $20,010 76
hug.me $20,000 180
brand.me $18,540 172
match.me $17,755 108
rank.me $17,505 179
view.me $17,005 76
lawyers.me $16,905 10
6verify.me $16,005 242
parts.me $15,505 227
lasvegas.me $15,105 87
chatwith.me $15,035 22
korea.me $15,015 64
solve.me $13,116 70
ping.me $12,515 79
elevate.me $12,080 31
48healthy.me $11,105 80
cast.me $11,015 121
volu.me $10,605 113
china.me $10,565 102
sign.me $10,255 96
picture.me $10,240 71
recruit.me $10,155 43
india.me $10,106 150
properties.me $10,010 168
baidu.me $10,005 64
kindle.me $10,005 21
onlinecasino.me $10,005 61
surprise.me $10,005 148
tag.me $10,005 151
secure.me $10,005 107
dna.me $10,004 74
bring.me $10,000 56



1) After witnessing the success of .Me domain name online auctions, Mark Boost, managing director of leading U.K. domain registration company, LCN.com, said that the public has “seen the .ME domain launch to be one of the most successful in history ofthe domain registration industry. Both businesses and individuals rushed to register their chosen .ME extension when open registration went live on July 17, and I would envisage huge prices being paid for the premium .ME domains.”

2) Godaddy(the world largest) had world record sales of .dot me names( sold more than they did with .mobi, .al .asia, .tv and all other new domains they have started sell before.
http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stories/2008/07/21/daily2.html

3) Over 80% of registrated .Me are fom English countries.The main interest comes from English speaking countries including the United States (71%), the United Kingdom (6%), Canada (4%), and Australia (2%)http://www.domaininformer.com/news/editors/080902hottestnewdestination.html

4) Dot .Me was the darling of the traffic show, with all 11 .me domains selling for between $6,000 and $70,000.: http://www.thedomains.com/2008/09/25/moniker-traffic-auction-nets-almost-3-million/

5) Dot .Me sold for OVER $2 Million in the fist .ME landrush auction where only few where allowed to bid. http://www.webhostdir.com/news/showNews.aspx?ID=27518

6) The internet is all about YOU AND .ME like: youtube, myspace ect… thats also one reasons .Me has great succes and will just grow in popularity.So many greats me sites to make with dot me: Date.Me, Youand.Me, Insure.Me, loan.Me, kiss.Me, Comedate.Me you can make 10000’s great easy to remember websites with dot .Me

7) September, 2008 From google news:.Me domains become the hottest new destination.Presently .Me domains are gaining momentum as the hottest new destination for Web addresses that have hit the market. Due to their universal appeal and quality to be easily remembered they have become essential to brand yourself or a company in the online marketFurthermore, some “premium” names such as. Contact.ME, Drive.ME, Kiss.Me, Youand.Me, Insure.me, lucky.Me have the potential to create a completely new perception of the websites.The .me domain names have surpassed everyone’s expectations when it comes to popularity. There were tens of thousands of .Me domain names registered within the first registration day.

Click link for total Article:
http://www.domaininformer.com/news/editors/080902hottestnewdestination.html

8) Dot .Me means the same in Spanish, Italy as in English - thats 100’s millions more that can use and buy dot .Me

9) It is one of the only 2 number domain extension out there that you can use so many ways in a sentence for marketing and branding.

10) If you look at the WHOIS at the top, .Me names - based on the auction sales price - high-profile CEOs and business owners as well as domain investors are securing the names, which makes the .Me domains even more interesting.”

Intermarketing .Me Report

Intermarketing reports domain investing could be a good alternative investment option. After witnessing the success of .Me domain name online auctions, Mark Boost, managing director of leading U.K. domain registration company, LCN.com, said that the public has “seen the .ME domain launch to be one of the most successful in history of the domain registration industry. Both businesses and individuals rushed to register their chosen .ME extension when open registration went live, and I would envisage huge prices being paid for the premium .ME domains.” seen the .ME domain launch to be one of the most successful in history of the domain registration industry. Both businesses and individuals rushed to register their chosen .ME extension when open registration went live, and I would envisage huge prices being paid for the premium .ME domains. As the global financial markets slide, and with Wall Street and other world stocks markets plunging, where should people place their money in these uncertain times? Gold, that’s a possibility. Under your mattress? Sure, but natural disasters and familial arguments could make that a risky proposition. the person who owns the Internet.

Some .me that we (DotMeBrokers.com) are brokering


(PRWEB) October 11, 2008 — “As the global financial markets slide, and with Wall Street and other world stocks markets plunging, where should people place their money in these uncertain times?” asks Peter Nilson from Intermarketing. “Gold, that’s a possibility. Under your mattress? Sure, but natural disasters and familial arguments could make that a risky proposition.”

Real estate, not likely, unless you have some great leads on foreclosures and bank-owned properties. But even these real estate investments will require some white-knuckle wrangling and financial maneuvering. Cyber real estate seems like a safer bet, and domain sales are still achieving substantial sales. Many astute individuals, including Rick Schwartz, Kevin Hamm “the person who owns the Internet”, and Frank Schilling made their cyber-gold during the last economic downturn, as they invested in domains that increased in valuation by hundreds of millions of USD, after the financial storm.

The best bets for investing in this extension will be action verbs like date.me which recently sold for $70,000 at the LIVE NY Auction, GEO domains such as LasVegas.Me, China, Macau, Vegas, Korea, and Hollywood, which can be used for travel or blogging sites. A few GEO Me sites are up and running, like Boston.me; it may be in its nascent stage of development, but already it shows great potential. Other valuable .ME names will be high-premium key words.
So perhaps a wise investor should buy a timely name like SAVE.ME, especially during these turbulent financial times. The .ME investors of today may strike their own cyber-gold, if the extension continues to gain in popularity and experiences even greater development. .ME looks like a winner, and there’s still time to invest in ME, before the prices start to skyrocket, or only available to investors with deep pockets.

Nice to see Hollywood.me mentioned in this article, as it’s one we are brokering right now on




Read the full article here

GoDaddy on .ME: ‘The Most Successful New Domain Launch in History’ - Mashable

GoDaddy on .ME: ‘The Most Successful New Domain Launch in History’ - Mashable